Colorado Farmers Face Charges in Deadly Listeria Outbreak

By Miguel Bustillo, Ana Campoy

Federal prosecutors on Thursday brought criminal charges against two Colorado brothers whose farm’s cantaloupes were allegedly linked to a 2011 listeria outbreak that caused the deaths of 33 people and sickened more than 140 others in 28 states.

Eric Jensen, 37 years old, and Ryan Jensen, 33, who are the owners of Jensen Farms, turned themselves in to U.S. marshals Thursday and appeared before U.S. Magistrate Michael Hegarty on charges of selling contaminated cantaloupes across state lines, the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Colorado said.

The brothers pleaded not guilty and were released on a $100,000 bond, pending a trial set to start Dec. 2, according to a federal spokesman. If convicted of the six counts of adulteration of a food and aiding and abetting, each faces up to a year infederal prison, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 for each of the charges.

“U.S. consumers should demand the highest standards of food safety and integrity,” said Patrick J. Holland of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations, which helped bring the case. “The filing of criminal charges in this deadly outbreak sends the message that absolute care must be taken to ensure that deadly pathogens do not enter our food-supply chain.”

In a statement released by their lawyer, the Jensens said the charges didn’t suggest they knew about any contamination. They added that food producers and processors “must be strictly liable for the safety of our food supply.”

“As they were from the first day of this tragedy, the Jensens remain shocked, saddened and in prayerful remembrance of the victims and their families,” the statement said.

Prosecutors alleged the Jensen brothers were responsible for introducing listeria, a poisonous bacterium, into interstate commerce because their cantaloupes were prepared, packed and stored in substandard conditions.

In September 2011, the FDA announced that Jensen Farms had issued a voluntary recall after its Rocky Ford brand of cantaloupe had been linked to a listeria outbreak. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also assisted in the case, concluded in an August 2012 summary of the outbreak that 147 people became ill and 33 died. A pregnant woman also suffered a miscarriage, the CDC said.

Jensen Farms, located in Granada, Colo., was hit with numerous civil suits and filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012 following the outbreak.

Bill Marler, a lawyer representing 25 family members of those who died in the outbreak and 20 others who became ill, said he believed the charges are unprecedented, given that there was no evidence that the Jensens knowingly sold contaminated melons.

“It underscores the fact that these bugs are deadly, and farmers, manufacturers and retailers need to pay a heck of a lot more attention to how production is done,” he said.

Prosecutions as a result of food-borne outbreaks are rare, though not unheard of, said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.

“I applaud it,” he said. “It sends a very important message to the small group of bad actors that implicated a largely safe food industry.”